Guards push Missouri over IUPUI

Brown and Clarkson combine for 46 points in victory.

Missouri’s non-conference cakewalk Monday began as a balanced scoring attack with all five starters tallying points. Then, IUPUI cut the 20-point lead to within eight and a duo of guards took over.

Juniors Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson combined for 46 points at Mizzou Arena as the Tigers improved to 5-0 with a 78-64 win over the Jaguars.

Brown, who played for 39 minutes, recorded a career-high 24 points and a season-high five 3-pointers.

Clarkson finished with 22 points and two 3s.

“We have confidence in ourselves as shooters,” Brown said. “We knew that as long as we took good shots, they would fall.”

Clarkson’s treys came in the game’s final eight minutes. His final triple ended a three-minute dry spell for the Tigers.

“I’m excited about Jordan and Jabari as I see them out there on the floor,” associate head coach Tim Fuller said. Fuller coached in place of head coach Frank Haith, who served the final game of his five-game suspension Monday. “It gives any coach a lot of confidence when finishing games to know that you have two high-powered wings that can play the way they played.”

After jumping out to a 13-point lead to end the first half, the Tigers scored a combined 29 points in the second.

Clarkson said the Jaguars changed up defenses forcing the Tigers to switch to a zone offense.
The Jaguars, though, never seemed to go away, keeping the score within 10-12 points.

“Teams are coming to play,” Fuller said. “At the end of the day, they put five guys out there that are capable of putting the ball in the basket. One of the things you are going to see with the rule changes is that there is not much defending you can do at the perimeter, so you have to move your feet and contest shots at the rim.”

Freshman forward Johnathan Williams III made himself useful in those battles for the ball by the rim. He recorded the first double-double of his career with 10 points and 10 rebounds, seven of which were defensive boards.

Monday’s game wrapped up the first two games of the Las Vegas Invitational. The Tigers will now head to Las Vegas to face Northwestern and Nevada.